Tonio K released two albums for the Christian market in the mid 80’s on What? Records. Both of them reach the Top 100 on this list. Both a must own album and truly brilliant works. Both are completely different musically and differ greatly in topic and theme. More will be said about Tonio K in a future post, but it should be noted here that for nearly three decades he released some of the most important releases that no one knows about. Before embracing the Christian faith Tonio K released several critically lauded and publicly ignored masterpieces. The same rang true in Christian music circles. I believe “Notes” was the last release for What? Records, a brilliant label whose imprint was the kiss of death in the CCM world. I cannot confirm this right now, but I believe every What? Records release appears on this countdown. The label was a joint effort between Word Records and A&M with the intent to bring Christian music to the masses with artists that had the chops and integrity to pull off the crossover. Where Tonio’s CCM debut (Romeo Unchained) was driven by technology and “new wave” rhythms and production, “Notes” was organic, blues and country influenced Americana rock and roll set in the heart of city life and suburban nightmares. There are two versions of the album with the Word released version not containing a song that will be discussed later. No one should own the Word version and I refused to carry that version in my store at the time.
Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist
1 – Without Love – 3:33
2 – Children’s Crusade – 4:56
3 – Stay – 4:14
4 – City Life – 4:07
5 – You Were There – 4:46
6 – The Executioner’s Song – 6:27
7 – I Can’t Stand It – 4:08
8 – What Women Want – 4:27
9 – I Can’t Stop – 3:19
10 – Where Is That Place? – 3:59
Credits
A&R [Productive A&R] – Aaron Jacoves, Tom Willett
Arranged By – David Miner, T Bone Burnett, Tonio K.
Art Direction, Photography By, Design – Linda Myers-Krikorian
Bass – James Jamerson, Jr. (tracks: 7 to 10)
Bass, Double Bass [String Bass], Harmonium, Marimba – David Miner
Drum Programming – Ralph Forbes
Drums – Raymond Pounds (tracks: 7 to 10)
Drums, Synthesizer [Dynacord] – Jim Keltner
Electric Guitar – Jack Sherman
Electric Guitar [12-string, Gut String, National], Acoustic Guitar – T Bone Burnett
Engineer [Assistant Engineering] – Barry Conley, Bob Loftus, Brian Soucy, Dave “The Blade” Knight, Duncan Aldrich, Ira Rubnitz, Tom Banghart
Executive-Producer – T Bone Burnett
Graphic Design, Layout – Karl Shields, Susan Shields
Mastered By – Tony Dawsey
Mixed By – Tchad Blake
Organ [Farfisa] – Rick Neigher
Organ [Hammond] – Booker T. Jones
Percussion – Alex Acuña
Piano – John Keller
Producer [Produced By] – David Miner, Tonio K.
Recorded By – Larry Hirsch
Recorded By [Additional Recording By] – Larold Rebhun (tracks: 8)
Rhythm Guitar [Occasional], Vocals – Tonio K.
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – What? Records
Copyright (c) – What? Records
Manufactured By – A&M Records, Inc.
Distributed By – A&M Records, Inc.
Recorded At – The Sound Factory
Recorded At – American Recorders
Recorded At – Ocean Way Recording
Recorded At – Mad Hatter Studios
Recorded At – A&M Studios
Mixed At – The Sound Factory
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Published By – Bibo Music Publishers
Published By – N.Y.M.
Published By – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Published By – Safespace Music
Published By – Unicity Music
Published By – Tea Time Tunes
Published By – Yellow Brick Road Music
Published By – VALEVISTA Music
